The New Jersey Devils haven’t been here in a while.
The Devils trail the Carolina Hurricanes two games to one in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Their first-round win over the Rangers was the first time the team won a playoff series since they advanced to the Cup finals in 2012 before falling to the Kings.
Since that season, New Jersey only qualified for the playoffs once before this season (2018) and that year they were bounced 4-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
So before this year, the Devils had won just one playoff game in 10 seasons.
You might say “enough with the past, let’s focus on the present,” as the Devils have a legit shot at making the conference finals.
But before we focus on the present, let’s check out some of the things that make the New Jersey Devils special.
Devils truly represent NJ
When the New Jersey Nets left for Brooklyn, they left the Devils as the only professional sports team in the four major sports named after the Garden State. Sure, the Giants and the Jets play home games here, as do the New York Red Bulls in the MLS, but they all have New York in their name. The Devils are all Jersey!
Why does the NJ Devils jersey have green in it?
When the Devils arrived in New Jersey, their colors were red and black. Later, the team added green to its colors. The green is said to represent the Garden State.
Is the third time a charm?
The Devils have been in New Jersey since 1982, but had two stops before coming here. The team started as the Kansas City Scouts and were there until 1976 when they moved to Colorado and became the Rockies. That lasted until 1982, when they became the Devils. It wasn’t a great start either. The Devils missed the playoffs the first five years after they arrived in East Rutherford (where they played at the Brendan Byrne Arena, also known as Meadowlands Arena; the team moved to Newark in 2007) and that was back when it was much easier to make the playoffs. Four of the six teams in the old-school Patrick Division made the playoffs.
The best NHL free agent signing wasn’t by the team
Martin Brodeur is the best player in franchise history, but No. 2 is Scott Stevens. The Devils got him after the St. Louis Blues signed winger Brendan Shanahan to an offer sheet that New Jersey couldn’t match. Unfortunately for the Blues, they didn’t have draft picks to give to the Devils in exchange for the signing, so they offered New Jersey goalie Curtis Joseph and Rod Brind’Amour. The Devils asked for Stevens. An arbitrator made the decision and awarded Stevens to the Devils. While Shanahan was a talented player, it worked out pretty well for the Devils.
She certainly enjoyed the view
The team’s most famous fan is arguably Whoopi Goldberg, who was actually on the ice after the Devils won their first Stanley Cup. She could be considered a bit of a fraud, however, as she also cheers for the Rangers, the team the Devils knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.
Responsible for a great nickname
When Robert Esche was traded to the Flyers, his equipment arrived with the word “REsche” written on it. Once he arrived, he was nicknamed “Chico,” after Devils great goalie Glenn “Chico” Resch.
Making face painting cool? That’s right!
All fans should be as passionate as David Puddy. The Seinfeld character made sure to don the red and green facepaint when attending New Jersey Devils games. After all, you gotta support the team.
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It’s a trap!
The New Jersey Devils won a lot in the late 90s by starting a new trend called the neutral-zone trap. It gave opponents a hard time even getting into the offensive zone, and also helped with transition offense. It made the games low scoring, but it drew complaints about being boring, so the NHL changed rules, thus making it much harder to play this way without piling up penalties.
Feeling a draft
The Devils had their share of down years, especially early, but never had the first overall pick until 2017 when they drafted Nico Hischier. It only took two years before they had the top pick again, this time they took Jack Hughes. But they didn’t need a top pick to find talent. In fact, the best player in club history, Martin Brodeur, was selected with the 20th pick in 1990.
Multiple Cups
Only 10 teams have won more cups than the Devils. The Canadians, Maple Leafs, Red Wins, Bruins, Blackhawks, Oilers, Penguins, Senators, Rangers and Islanders have more, while the Avalanche and Lightning also have three.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: New Jersey Devils, back in NHL playoffs, have quite the history